Palmer House Hilton | Keeping up with Kate

Where I’ve been lately…

Posted on March 18, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

My posts seem to be few and far between lately. Things have been quite busy at work lately (and I don’t see that changing) – I see that as a good thing!

Since November, I’ve been planning for our Annual Sales Kick-off Meeting in Chicago. It was a the Palmer House Hilton – one beautiful, historic hotel. Same place as last year – and they did not disappoint. I highly recommend this hotel if you have an opportunity to stay there in Chicago. Now back to my post…

I flew into Chicago on Monday, March 11th. I was up late getting all the presentations to flow, etc. The meeting started at Noon on the 12th. There was lots to do in morning prior to the meeting. Everything was going great. I can tell you the whole time, I was wondering to myself (and may even have said it out loud too) – I’m not nervous – What is wrong – I’m usually so nervous before it starts and then once we start I’m good. Hmmm – what is going on?

Our theme was – WE ARE THE DIFFERENCE! The meeting started with a quick welcome and then off to our keynote speaker, Steve Gilliland (check him out on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiaQm54ZURM) – he spoke to us about “Making a Difference.” It was great and I can’t wait to read his book. The one thing he mentioned was ‘Prepare Hard and Finish Easy’ – then the light bulb went off in my head – this is exactly what I had done (along with my team)! Long story short – great meeting – great city!

Here are some pictures from the hotel – did I mention earlier? – Beautiful!!

Where I’ve been…

Posted on February 26, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

The month of February is almost over and I’ve been MIA from my blog. I spent the month of February (and time before that) planning our Midwest Region Sales Kick-off (it was a huge success – a fantastic team put it together). We selected downtown Chicago for our meeting. I love Chicago. I’ve spent quite a bit of time there over the years for work. I had a chance to be a tourist many moons ago. One of these days, I need to be a bit more of a tourist.

I thought I’d share some of my destinations from the week.

Inside the Palmer House Hilton Hotel (just love this place and the staff competely ROCKS)!

This is a picture of the lobby with Tiffany Lighting.

This is a picture of the lobby ceiling. One word = BEAUTIFUL

My walk on Sunday included a view of some of the many bridges (I believe 21 different bridge architectures) and a trek to Union Station.

Our Meeting was in The Palmer House Hilton. Some of the rooms. We met in the Empire Room (picture not posted yet) and we used the dark room as an office. We were told Al Capone played cards in the room and used the secret doors to leave. The doors work but are blocked off now. Very cool. Can’t wait to go back next year!

Had a chance to have some great Italian dinners on Monday and Thursday night had two great Chicago destinations – Italian Village (a very short walk from the hotel) and Carmine’s (this was an extra treat as I was supposed to come home Thursday night – Southwest decided I should stay an extra day when they cancelled my flight due to the impending snowstorm – that was a non-event). The food was awesome and so was the company!

I grabbed this shot from the cab on the way to Carmine’s.

I wrapped up my portion of the meeting with this little petite cocktail selection at the hotel bar. So good. Then it was off to Berghoff’s for dinner (delicious) (they have a caramel salted cheesecake to die for) (and a short walk from the hotel)!